Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Home Mission

“But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.” ~ Acts 1:8

Go to any major Christian conference and it’s bound to
happen.You’ll hear a story of a lost
soul in faraway (likely impoverished) land, and your heart will break.Your soul will be stirred and you’ll find
yourself asking, “God, is this for
me?Do you really want me to serve as a
missionary?”

The answer, of course, is simple, yet not always what we
expect.You see, the answer could very
well be that God wants you to serve as a missionary, either as part of a
short-term mission or a long-term one. And, that mission could undoubtedly be
to a part of the earth you never expected to visit.These are the answers we often “hear” in that
moment of high emotion.

But, if we really listen, or more aptly, read God’s Word,
it’s easy to find a definitive answer.You
see, we are all called to be missionaries.No matter where we are, or where we go, in some sense, we have been
“sent” to our current location to share the good news of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.

It seems that for some reason, we have created tiers of evangelism.We hold the full-time missionaries in the
faraway land at the top.We put
ourselves and our everyday lives talking to our friends, family, and neighbors
about Jesus at the bottom.And, as a
result of this, we often ask ourselves, “God, can you really use me? I mean, I
can’t give my entire life to the mission field, so maybe it’s just best for me
to write a check for someone else to do it?”

But, perhaps, the reality is that God wants us to be a
missionary right where we are.Don’t get
this wrong? In no way am I diminishing our responsibility to make disciples of
all nations. Our commitment to reaching the lost includes going wherever they
may go.Our partnerships with
missionaries and missionary organizations are of the utmost importance.Our church-wide missions trip to West
Virginia was a dream come true. However, as believers, we must understand
Jesus’ words in Acts 1:8, when he said, “But
you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be
my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth.”

There are two major points in those words.First, we are all called to be his
witnesses.We don’t need special powers,
special education, or even a special “calling.”We are all called.Most of us, at
least intellectually, get that.The
second point, however, is more often missed.Much too frequently, we jump to the end of the verse and focus on “to
the end of the earth.”But, we miss that
Jesus starts with our calling “in Jersusalem.” That was an indication to the hearers of this
word that they were to be witnesses at home, right where they were.

What if it is our neighbor down the street is needs to hear
the gospel? Could it be the mom of your kid’s soccer teammate is your mission
field?

The real message of the gospel is that each of us have been
saved by the grace of God alone, and with that, we are all called to be bearers
of the Good News.

If you have been called to go on an international missions
trip, humbly submit yourself to God and watch him do powerful things in and
through you.We will partner with you.
We will support you.But, if your
mission field is the street you live on, the school your children attend, or
the soccer team you coach.It’s no less
of a calling. Humbly submit yourself to God and watch him do powerful things in
and through you.We will partner with
and support you just the same.We all
have a calling.It’s time for us to live
like the missionaries He has called us to be.

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About Me

Jesus is central to everything we do, and the Holy Spirit is welcome in our services. We invite you to join us
any Sunday at our casual, family oriented congregation. Please visit our website for more information.

Christi Sleiman: Acts 2 member on the go, college engineering student, overseas missionary, and children's worker. Visit Christi's blog here.Pastor Rob Stevenson:Our beloved founding pastor. Although he graduated to heaven in 2013, he lives on in all of our hearts.